Clerics in northwest Pakistan have issued a temporary ban on women shopping unless accompanied by a male relative, a police official said on Saturday, in a step designed to keep men from being distracted during the holy month of Ramadan.

Police are supporting the ban, announced over mosque loudspeakers on Friday in Karak district in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, district police official Fazal Hanif told Reuters.

Unaccompanied women will be arrested and shopkeepers may be punished for selling items to women on their own.

It’s just temporary. Don’t get crabby about it. Ramadan is only a month. Bitchez can put up with being locked up at home for just a month, so get over it. They really shouldn’t be outside without a male relative at all, if you think about it – so limiting it to a month is generous and kind.

The mosque announcements said the ban was intended to stop men from being distracted during Ramadan, when Muslims are meant to fast from dawn to sunset. The annual period of fasting and prayer falls in July this year.

The ban was proposed by a faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party led by Fazl-ur-Rehman, local administration official Sarfaraz Khattak said.

Such religious parties have typically performed poorly in Pakistani elections, winning only a handful of seats. But mainstream politicians are often slow to criticize religious leaders, partly for fear of being targeted by their supporters.

Some residents of the area also oppose the ban.

“The male members of the family don’t have enough time to take women to the market,” said Mohammad Naeem Khattak. “Where can women go for shopping if they are banned in the market?”

Oh come on – it just takes a little planning. As soon as the men come home, they can take the women to the market. So that means fasting two or three extra hours! So what? Everybody will be so much purer, it’s obviously worth it.

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Clerics in northwest Pakistan have issued a temporary ban on women shopping unless accompanied by a male relative, a police official said on Saturday, in a step designed to keep men from being distracted during the holy month of Ramadan.

So having women do things without you is distracting, but having them stuck with you in the house for a month isn’t? [boggles]

…Why would these supposedly distracting women be any less distracting for having a male relative accompanying them?

The obvious answer that comes to mind is that the “escort” doesn’t stop anyone from being distracted, but from reacting to their “distraction” by behaving inappropriately toward women who appear “unclaimed”. It seems likewise obvious that in that case, it’s the men who can’t restrain themselves from bad behaviour who need escorts.

It’s meant to reduce exposure to temptations and ensure male ritual purity. Unescorted females may trigger the overwhelming urge to grope, fap in public, or succumb to other impulses beneath the dignity of Teh Prophet (as if that’s possible). Men simply can’t help themselves, so it’s up to wimmenz to help ease them through this difficult period.

After Ramadan, it’s business as usual, when street harassment and other assaults may resume with Teh Prophet’s blessing.